Lafayette players looking forward to road game at Army at West Point

MORNING CALL FILE PHOTO

Matt Mrazek is Lafayette's leading receiver with 42 catches for 454 yards and 8 touchdowns. Mrazek, who didn't get much big-school attention coming out of high school, is looking forward to playing Army, a FBS team.

Matt Mrazek is Lafayette's leading receiver with 42 catches for 454 yards and 8 touchdowns. Mrazek, who didn't get much big-school attention coming out of high school, is looking forward to playing Army, a FBS team. (MORNING CALL FILE PHOTO)

Paul ReinhardSpecial to The Morning Call

Lafayette players looking forward to road game at Army at West Point

As a high school senior, Dante Lonardo had a bad recruiting experience with the United States Military Academy at West Point — better known as simply Army.

Matt Mrazek never had a recruiting experience with the Cadet coaches — and no scholarship offer from any other NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) school, either.

Connor Staudle grew up in a home just 10 minutes from Army's Michie Stadium, but wound up coming to Lafayette.

Lafayette head coach Frank Tavani lost his defensive coordinator to Army when Jeff Monken took over the head job for 2014.

Each of those members of Lafayette's football program has his own personal reason for attaching extra significance to the Leopards' non-conference football game at noon on Saturday in iconic Michie Stadium.

"This isn't about coaches," Tavani said Tuesday at the weekly football luncheon when he was asked about his first encounter with 14-year Leopard d-coordinator John Loose. "It happens all the time in our profession … it's us against Army, not coaches and coach, at least in my mind."

Lonardo, a former Bethlehem Catholic High School star who is in his first season of playing at Lafayette after missing all of 2015 with an injury, definitely has the closest ties with the Black Knights of the Hudson.

He was highly recruited and he made a visit to Army, where, he said, "I saw the hall of fame in the stadium, was in the locker room and the equipment room. It's an amazing facility."

Lonardo was offered a scholarship to Lafayette and gave a verbal commitment to become part of the Class of 2015. Before national signing day rolled around, he received an appointment offer from the people at West Point.

"They weren't too happy when I told them I was going to stick to my commitment to Lafayette," said Lonardo, who is now the backup to both defensive ends, Collin Albershardt and Beau Bosch.

"I wouldn't say it's a revenge game this week, but definitely, I wasn't very happy the way they handled me letting them know that I was committed elsewhere. I'm excited to play and show them that they were right to be upset, I guess."

Lonardo, 6-3, 250 pounds, also was recruited by Penn State and Syracuse, but the best he got from them was the chance to be a walk-on.

Lafayette is happy the things worked out as they have.

After missing an entire year, it took some time for Lonardo to get back into the football rhythm he had at Becahi. He said that happened during preseason camp, but he also had to get used to the fact that, unlike in high school, where he felt like he could make every play, he had to become accustomed to the college game, where doing a job and understanding situations was just as important.

He has played in all six games for the Leopards, who are 1-5 and have lost five straight. He'll not soon forget his first game, either.

"I got in against [Central Connecticut State] and my heart was pounding," he said. "Two plays later, I made a tackle for a loss and that got the ball rolling for me. I was able to calm down and play football again."

Lonardo had 12 tackles and a pair of quarterback hurries. He said he has been doing a lot of learning from veterans Albershardt and Bosch — "I try to be a sponge off those guys. Anything they tell me from what they know from experience, I've tried to take in."

Mrazek is Lafayette's leading receiver this season with 42 catches for 454 yards and eight touchdowns. He figures to be a big part of Lafayette's offense on Saturday and hopes to make the most of it.

The La Grange, Ill., native said that, "I didn't get any FBS offers besides a preferred walk-on at Northwestern."

While he has become the go-to guy for the Leopards, he still remembers the lack of big-school attention.

"I feel like I was shorted, and I'll be going into this game with a chip on my shoulder to show people, especially with this audience and the attendance we're going to have, that I'm a better player than what they thought I was."

Mrazek has been an impact player since his freshman year. In the 150th Lafayette-Lehigh game in another iconic venue — Yankee Stadium — he made a leaping catch of a Zach Zweizig pass for the final touchdown of the Leopards' 27-7 victory over Lehigh before more than 48,000 people, so the big stage is not new for him.

He has never been to Michie Stadium and said, "My whole family bought their tickets well in advance" for this game.

Staudle, a team captain and the most experienced member of the Lafayette offensive line, will also have ample hometown support.

"There will be" lots of Staudles at the game, he said. "My mom is tallying up how many tickets she's going to need. I'm excited to go back there; I haven't been there in a while. When I was a little kid, I watched them play there, so this is something special."